The Strategic Issues & International Relations Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to India's security environment, her strategic outlook on global affairs and as well as the effect of international relations in the Indian Subcontinent. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.

I have a reason for starting this thread and it is based on an observation I have made.

Every time India gets hit by a terrorist attack, the perpetrators of the attack have a readymade list of grievances to justify those attacks. It is almost like you duck to escape the blast of the attack, and you raise your head thinking that its over and you get hit by a second blast that tells you:

"You are the terrorists and this is gods punishment for raping 100000000000000 kashmiris bringing down Babri masjid killing 100000000000000 Muslims in Gujarat blahblahblahblah"

There have been so many terrorist attacks using these as justification that we end up going "duuuuuuuuh" when we have to speak of that list.

Some of these lists need to be mugged up and vomited out like you teach your 6 year old multiplication tables

So I am hoping to put up several different lists of terrorist attacks written by several people including myself, and I am hoping to achieve two ends

1) The creation of a comprehensive list of attacks that can be used as the "first post" or terrorism related threads

2) The constant and unrelenting repetition of lists so that every India is able to recite that list like "Kashmirpalestinebabrimasjidgajratiraq" or "oneonzaoneonetwozatwo" etc.

I will post two lists to start off with - one hurriedly compiled by me and the other in an article that I will cross post.

I do not necessarily intend this thread to be a hot one for discussion - but I would appreciate help in creating a list of attacks with dates and deaths that is usable and can be mugged up and vomited out as needed by the largest possible number of antiterror Mujahids.

2001 October 1: A car bomb explodes near the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly in Srinagar, killing 35 people and injuring 40 more.December 13: Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament.

2002India, January 22: Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on guards at the American Center in Kolkata, killing five people.

2003India, August 25: At least 48 people were killed and 150 injured in two blasts in south Mumbai - one near the Gateway of India at the other at the Zaveri Bazaar.

2004 Militants detonated a bomb that killed nine and injured about fifty others, including two elected officials. The incident occurred at a People's Democratic Party election rally at Uri. Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti was addressing the audience when the explosion took place. The Save Kashmir Movement later claimed responsibility for the blast.

A policeman was killed in Jammu and thirteen wounded in an attack during parliamentary voting. Muslim militants and leftist guerillas warned voters to stay from the polls and threatened violence on election day.

Suspected Muslim militants threw a grenade at a convoy carrying a state lawmaker as she was leaving a rally in the Anantnaga district. Though People's Democratic Party (PDP) member Mehbooba Mufti was uninjured, though four people were killed and forty-five were wounded in the attack. Radicals have warned people to stay away from the elections and voting.

.In Bungam, ten people were injured, including two police officers and eight civilians, when an unidentified person threw a hand grenade at a local representative's convoy. This attack comes only a week before parliamentary elections are set to begin in Kashmir.Suspected Muslim militants threw a hand grenade at a crowd during a candidate's political address, killing three civilians and wounding forty-nine others. The candidate from the National Conference Party was unhurt. This attack comes only a week before nation-wide parliamentary elections are due to take place.

One person was killed and twenty-one injured, when terrorists lobbed a grenade outside of the premises of the district hospital in Doda. The grenade was most likely aimed at a government convoy passing the hospital at the time. The victim killed was a government official and four of the injured included police officers. Police supsect the the Hizbul Mujahideen is behind the attack because the group is most active in the area..

A bicycle bomb that was detonated at the Chadoura bridge killed three people and injured twenty-four. The bomb had been planted by suspected militants on a bicycle parked 20 feet from a border security pillbox. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities are blaming Hizbul-Mujahedin

.A Pahalgam hotel was the target of a grenade attack, which killed four people, including two tourists. The grenade triggered the explosion of a gas canister in the hotel's restaurant, which made the explosion more deadly. Al-Nasireen has claimed responsibility for the attack. In their claim of responsibility the group states that they hope to discourage "obscenity and nudity being imported into the land of Islam's martyrs."..[128]

Six police personnel were killed and five injured when militants detonated an improvised explosive device as a convoy was passing by. The convoy was escorting a member of Parliament..[154

Two people were killed and thirty-nine injured when a bomb went off near a tourist reception center. The device was placed in a hand cart.

Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma escaped a second attempt on his life when militants threw a bomb at his public meeting in Anantnag. Five people were killed and around fifty other injured in the attack..

One person was killed and thirty-five injured when militants hurled a hand grenade inside of a hospital in Baramula. The injured were those who were hospitalized. The perpetrators probably attacked the hospital because a number of Border Security Forces had been admitted for earlier injuries.

About twenty people were injured when a bomb exploded in a cinema on the eve of Independence Day,

Two children were killed and their parents were injured in a grenade attack on their house in Gandoh. Militants were apparently aiming at the Central Reserve Police Force, when the rocket missed the target and landed on the family's house.

Unknown perpetrators detonated a bomb, attempting to kill Omar Abdullah, the leader of pro-India National Conference Party. The attack was carried out as Abdullah was attending a prayer ceremony for the former National Conference minister Safdar Ali Baig (killed by militants). The rebels' bomb missed their target, but injured four others in the crowd.

One person was killed and four other injuried when a funeral procession for two youths, Ranjit Kumar and Roshan Lal, was atta2002cked by militants in Tund Nallah. The attackers threw a bomb at the procession and also sprayed the crowd with gunfire. The two dead youths being honored by the funeral had been gunned down by ultras earlier. The Prime Minister was also scheduled to visit the region the next day

2005India, July 5: 2005 Terrorist attack on Ayodhya – Six terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba storm the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhomi complex. Before the terrorists could reach the main disputed site, they were shot down by Indian security forces. One devotee and two policemen were injured.

India, July 28: Jaunpur train bombing: 13 are killed when militants detonate a bomb on a commuter train.

India, December 28: Two or more unidentified gunmen open fire at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, killing a retired professor of mathematics and wounding four others.

2006India, March 7: Bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi kill 28 and injure more than 100.

India, July 11: A series of explosions rock commuter trains in Mumbai, India, killing 209 and wounding another 714 civilians.

India, November 20: A suspected terrorist bomb explodes on a train in India.

2007Hyderabad bombings. Twin bombings kill at least 44 and injure 54 in Hyderabad. Two bombs are diffused and 19 others are found unexploded. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, blames Islamic militants with ties to Pakistan or Bangladesh, saying that the extremists want to foment tension between India's Hindus and Muslims. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan deny the accusations

Flag of India Uttar Pradesh serial blasts. Near-simultaneous blasts triggered by militants in court premises in Varanasi, Faizabad, and the state capital kill 15 people and injure more than 80.

2008Flag of India Jaipur. A simultaneous bomb blast at eight different sites, including a crowded shopping site and a Hanuman temple, a self-styled Indian Mujahideen, (a collaboration of LeT & SIMI) has claimed responsibility.

Bangalore. A series of nine blasts kills 2 and injures 20 people.

Ahmedabad. A series of seventeen blasts killing 49 and injuring 160 people

Flag of India Delhi. A series of 5 bombs exploded in Delhi, killing 30 and injuring 90.

Two weeks from the day of serial blasts killing 30, another bomb was detonated in a market in the Mehrauli district killing three and injuring 23.

Do Not Wash This Blood; Do Not Wipe This Tear: Get AngryMaloy K Dhar December 12, 2008Tags: revolution , people , maoist , government , people , India , terrorism This dissertation is not meant to inspire you to accumulate anger as a part of behavioral asset. Anger, in some form of application, is bad; medically, socially and morally. That anger is an animal instinct and is originated by obstruction to achieve desired object and lust, has been stated even in the Holy Book-Gita:

However, I beg to draw a line between the interpretations of the Holy Book and mundane but very important aspects those govern the affairs of a society and a Nation. This anger is not for saturating lust and fulfilling desire. This anger is more primordial- cave men wailing for total lack of safety form elemental hazards and approaching saber-toothed predator. You and all of us are being attacked by armed predators from inside and outside the country. Our constitutional protectors are emasculated and cannot defend us. They simply rob our resources; stack inside the country or in foreign accounts. They are above the law and we have no law and order coverage. The latest mercenary attack on Mumbai has proved the impotence of the omnipotent government and its governing tools. These are toothless robbing tigers.

You have wiped enough tears, you have washed enough blood. Stop wiping and washing. Stand up. Ask: how long this drama would continue? How long would we be asked to sacrifice?

For whom? The fat and corrupt politicians and the catty bureaucrats who bite away our resources in the name of fatter pay and parks packets? No more.

A time has come to get angry. It is no more enough for the media to tom-tom the virtue of the metro cities like Mumbai, eulogizing their infinite shrugging capability and sleep over the ghastly incidents taking toll of hundreds of lives and going about usual business and animalistic daily chores. A human community cannot be expected to graze in the grasslands of Kenya mindless of attacks by ferocious cats and two legged hunters. That is the basic difference between organised human society and pack of wild animals. It looks poetic and reads cathartic in electronic and print media to buy and swallow the bait that life moves on; dastard terror attack or not; corpses lying next door or not and the sleeping with the feeling: ‘I am ok, let the world go to hell.’ If our media cannot go on tomfooling the people by hyping the basic animal instinct in the animal called MAN.

Some tears can be wiped, some blood can be washed and life restarted. Indians are attuned to this routine for centuries, overcoming waves of invasion and carnages. Animals are better healed by time than medicine. Dawa se dua kabhi kabhi accha hota hain, as they say in Urdu-sometimes prayer is better than medicine. These clichés are parts of our lulling process, which we recite and go to sleep. After all, the animal must live and continue to survive.

However, we happen to live in a supposed organized Nation State whose business are run on the basis of freedom, liberty, equality, secularism and other noble concepts enshrined in the constitution. The basic test of existence of a State is its capability to protect the lives and properties of the citizen from internal and external disturbances, maintain order, move the people up to the path of progress and maintain integrity of the geopolitical entity and all other affairs of the Nation. These rights have been assured in the constitution.

For last 60 odd years we have faced disturbances arising out of internal fault lines in our communal divide, in the Northeast, Punjab, Kashmir and of course and the great fault line that is creating tectonic explosions in the Maosit movement affected areas. The entire country is in turmoil despite our pretensions that life goes on smooth like a placid river. The poetic description is misleading. Life flows on but often its course takes violent turns, changes course and brings miseries. That life can go out of rhythm totally has been proved by the escalating Maoist movement arising out of constant neglect of rural economy, agricultural community and other related problems.

I am not advocating the last course of action a group of citizen can take; rebel and create a civil war like situation. I am just evoking again the spirit of the song written by Pradip and immoratalised by Lata Mangeshkar after the 1962 China war debacle: please do not forget the sacrifices of the brave warriors of the country; remember them and keep the fire lighted.

This time, after the organised mercenary attack by a group of Pakistan based jihadists on Mumbai, in culmination of sporadic bomb attacks should not be forgotten. We should not go to sleep like a tried and vexed animal and wake up next morning and go hunting for livelihood, sex, amusement and procreation; look up the sinking sensex and wail over the rising prices of daily needs. We should try to be little better than basic animals.

For the first time a group of seaborne foreign mercenary raiders attacked a prime city of India, the supposed land of proud Marathas, revolutionaries and champions of progress. It is no jihadi/terrorist cell and module based attack. This is an attack by a proxy-foreign army with the backing of sections of Pakistani state apparatus. Those of you read the book or seen the movie Dogs of War by Frederick Forsythe and Guns of Navarone should realize with great shame that India is a Soft State and any enemy can get away with Kargil and Mumbai like adventures. This fluffy cotton-country reacts with limped limb-jerk and vomits political garbage in the form of lectures and lectures ad infinitum. Do we still look at the State as Gods beyond the clouds? The people have to decide; now or never.

Therefore, I request you do not go to bed by wiping the tear and washing the blood-Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jewish blood. Please freeze the tear drops and the blood clots and ask in anger: where do we go from here and how do we go! Get angry, for the first and last time. Get angry not to desire money, woman, and power, not to destroy but to stabilize the systemic organs of the country and give yourselves a renewed system that works, invigorates and revitalise the tools of governances that are capable of protecting you and the country. This objective requires strong resolution and determination to reject what our corrupt, criminal and caste and greed ridden politicians say, reject all the excuses offered by the systemic tools and reject all the contorted arguments offered by the so-called intellectuals and analysts. They offer opinion because some of them are paid by vested interests and others write because the papers are to be filled up in black and white and the anchors have to fill in the air time. Listen to your heart; listen to cries of your children, wife and other near and dear ones. Listen to your inner urging and cry in anger: CHANGE THE SYSTEM, CHANGE THE GOVERNING TOOLS, CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION, CHANGE THE LAWS, CHANGE THE CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENDEC SYSTEM AND DUMP THE POLITICIANS OF PRESENT VARIETY.

Come out and share the anger of the people and make the anger victorious.

Before you do so you should know what has gone wrong and how the enemy is able to hit our heart like we are a banana Caribbean island. Leave aside Kargil and other faux pas, the present mercenary jihadi attack on Mumbai is not new at all. It is an upgraded version of what has been going on in India in the name of Islamic terrorist attacks and Jihadi thrust. Besides severe blast incidents in 1993 that devastated Mumbai and attack on the Parliament in 2001 there have been several high intensity serial bomb blasts since 2003:

August 25, 2003 - Two car bombs kill about 60 in Mumbai. Aug. 15, 2004 - A bomb explodes in the northeastern state of Assam, killing 16 people, mostly schoolchildren, and wounding dozens.

October 29, 2005 - Sixty-six people are killed when three blasts rip through markets in New Delhi.

March 7, 2006 - At least 15 people are killed and 60 wounded in three blasts in the northern Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi.

July 11, 2006 - More than 180 people are killed in seven bomb explosions at railway stations and on trains in Mumbai that are blamed on Islamist militants.

September 8, 2006 - At least 32 people are killed in a series of explosions, including one near a mosque, in Malegaon town, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Mumbai.

Feb. 19, 2007 - Two bombs explode aboard a train heading from India to Pakistan; at least 66 passengers, most of them Pakistanis, burn to death.

May 18, 2007 - A bomb explodes during Friday prayers at a historic mosque in the southern city of Hyderabad, killing 11 worshippers. Police later shoot dead five people in clashes with hundreds of enraged Muslims who protest against the attack.

Aug. 25, 2007 - Three coordinated explosions at an amusement park and a street stall in Hyderabad kill at least 40 people.

May 13, 2008 - Seven bombs rip through the crowded streets of the western city of Jaipur, killing at least 63 people in markets and outside Hindu temples.

July 25 - Eight small bombs hit the IT city of Bangalore, killing at least one woman and wounding at least 15.

July 26 - At least 16 small bombs explode in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, killing 45 people and wounding 161. A little-known group called the “Indian Mujahideen” claims responsibility for the attack and the May 13 attack in Jaipur.

Sept 13 - At least five bombs explode in crowded markets and streets in the heart of New Delhi, killing at least 18 people and injuring scores more. The Indian Mujahideen again claim responsibility.

Oct 30 - Eleven bomb blasts rip through Guwahati, the main city of northeastern Assam state. Detonated in quick succession, they kill at least 68 people and wound 335.

Nov 26 - At least 101 people are killed in Mumbai as an unidentified number of armed attackers shoot at and toss grenades into crowds at landmark hotels and buildings.

Nov 29 - Police finally end the siege at the iconic Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai. More than 155 people, including foreigners, were killed in militant attacks on two luxury hotels and landmarks across the city.

The statistics indicate that the foreign and internal jihadis who intend to reestablish Islamic hegemony over India as an extension of two decades old jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh are escalating the degree of attack on India. This time it has come in the form of a daring mercenary attack. This is an up gradation of the war strategy- from proxy-war to direct war.

The readers have fair idea about the perpetrators. However, to concretise the presentation of facts so disjointedly catered by the media and innumerable official spokespersons a capsule description is given below. Lots have been written about the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the materials are available in several web pages. In short, Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad was founded in 1987 by Prof. Hafiz Moahmmad Saeed and Abdullah Azam, a Palestinian and the original preceptor of Osama bin Laden with monetary help of the later and support of the ISI. Out of this Markaz emerged Lashkar-e-Toiba in 1991 at Kunnur province in Afghanistan (some reports say Muzaffarabad) as the fighting arm of the Markaz, headquartered at Muridke, near Lahore (see map). Its dual purpose was to assist the Qaeda in Afghanistan and global jihad and to carry out ISI’s war against India in Kashmir.

Initially the Lashkar was partly trained in Afghanistan and Muridke and nearby forested area called Changa Manga. Later the major training camps were shifted to Muzaffarabad, Thakot and Mansehra (see map). Your mercenary invaders were trained by a former ISI and army officer of Pakistan for over one year at Thakot camp (name not revealed for security reasons).

Lashkar camps at Thakot, Muzaffarabad and Mansehra in POK

Lashkar camps at Thakot, Muzaffarabad and Mansehra in POK

Initial recruitment was made from Punjab and out of that 25 young men were selected to undergo rigourous training. After brainwashing at Muridke the team was sent to Thakot for intensive training and every aspect of the training was supervised by the ISI cover officers.

After Muridke and Thakot training the group of 20 was sent to Karachi for undergoing naval-training under supervision of the Musa Company of the Special Services Group (SSG) of Pakistan Army (Musharraf was in command earlier) . The Musa Company is something like MARCOS unit of the Indian Navy. After intensive training in navigation, rough weather sailing and other aspects of naval maneuver the group was equipped to the teeth with GPS, Sat Phone, explosives, arms and ammunition and of course they were acquainted with detailed aspects of the targets of attack by using video materials. The video materials, it is now known, were made by cohorts of Dawood Ibrahim who also helped the boys by providing false identity papers. The identity papers were meant to give Pakistan a solid ground for deniability-to tell India bluntly that the raid was done by Indian Muslims or better Hindu terrorists. Some identity papers and SIM cards were obtained by HUJI and SIMI activists in Calcutta and West Bengal district towns. This hoax was fortified by sending mails in the name of Deccan Mujahideen prom a Pakistani proxy server. Some media agents of the ISI in India and abroad also floated the story that the attack was mounted by Israeli Mossad and India intelligence. Have a look at various Islamist web pages, which are carrying the garnished story in all conceivable manners to impress vulnerable Indian Muslims that the great raid was by their own brethren. Sniff around and you would hear the hushed mouth to mouth propaganda that the heinous crime was perpetrated by the Hindu government to malign the Muslims. What do you do with such congenital Goebbels?

The mercenaries took a well planned route starting from the capital town of POK via Muridke, Karachi>Porbandar> Mumbai. I illustrate the route for your benefit:

Muzaffarabad to Mumbai

Muzaffarabad to Mumbai

Approximate Landing route

Approximate Landing route

It would be clear that such a daring international transgression could not be performed by a terrorist group without state players of Pakistan. Rest of the stories about hijacking of a Gujarati fishing vessel or betrayal by a Gujarati fisherman earlier won over by the ISI while in Pakistani jail, would unfold during investigation. Let the police and intelligence carry out the postmortem as they usually do and let us proceed with resolved anger to examine other important aspects of this mini-Kargil on Mumbai.

To remind you and to strengthen your resolve a photo of the area of occupation by the mercenaries is given below:

Area of Operation by the Mercenaries (courtesy BBC)

Area of Operation by the Mercenaries (courtesy BBC)

Many opinions have been expressed by multi-mouthed government agencies and more are yet to come. Readers may notice the similarity between Mumbai attack and 9/11 attack on the USA. Mumbai operation was launched from Karachi but was planned in Islamabad and the US attack was launched from Pakistan and Afghanistan bases of the Al Qaeda and the ISI. The footprints of Al Qaeda techniques in Mumbai operation can be easily detected by discerning eyes. It may be remembered that the LeT is intricately linked to the ISI, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Exchange of technology is a common feature.

The other players are:

a) Dawood Ibrahim and his mafia associates in Mumbai,

b) SIMI/IM assistance from Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai.

c) HUJI helpers in Bangladesh and bordering areas of Murshidabad and Malda districts of West Bengal.

Dawood helped the ISI by supplying ground survey reports, facilitating intimate knowledge of the hotels and other targets. Very few people in Mumbai itself know that there is a Jewish centre at Nariman House. The facilitators of the IM helped with identity cards etc and HUJI facilitators helped in obtaining SIM cards and false certificates to help the ISI to spin the story that the attack was mounted by Indian Muslims (Deccan Mujahideen). These preparations were done months ahead of the attack and the ISI and the LeT were equipped with all the alibis.

The name Deccan Mujahideen has been used deliberately as the separatist Muslims always insisted on creation of Osmanistan with the former princely state of Hyderabad as nucleus. Hyderabad and Bangalore have other live links to this attack. Abu Hamza and Sahabuddin Ahmed linked to IISC, Bangalore attack and Syyid Vicar Ali of Hyderabad Mecca Masjid incident are suspected as main southern helpers of the ISI and the Lashkar. The myth of Deccan Mujahideen has been woven around these separatists from southern India.

Intelligence agencies are aware that Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous of the ISI and one of its important operatives Col. Mehmood Hassan has been responsible for most of the planned attacks in Indian mainland. The US 9/11 attack was assisted by the ISI (former DG ISI Mahmood Ahmad) and this time around also the ISI core is involved in the planning. Forward roles may have been played by Kafa and Zaki ur Rahman Lakhwi, Kashmir in charge of Lashkar operations.

Like the US operation the Mumbai attack was also planned and prepared for over one year. This is no ordinary terrorist attack. It is a seaborne mercenary attack like the Guns of Navarone where a British team was sent to cross occupied Greek territory and destroy the massive German gun emplacement that commanded a key sea channel. I should say with a tinge of sadness that Indian intelligence agencies also had failed to stretch their imagination that Pakistan could resort to such mercenary attack. Anticipation is half of the intelligence scheme and blue print on which the agencies build up real operations bases. How surprising that even the IB has run out of anticipation and imagination! Or have they joined the rut procession?

The Lashkar chief has denied any involvement of his organization in the Mumbai incident. The Pakistani president initially reacted with positive signals but retracted after the real owners of Pakistan-the Mullahs, Army and the ISI pressed his government to behave or get punished like his wife Benazir. Elected or nominated, no head of state or prime minister in Pakistan can renege against the real owners of Pakistan. That president Zardai is more fragile than a sand castle has now been amply proved. He has to recite the script prepared by General Kiyani and General Nadim Taj, the ISI chief or fall to bullets as his wife Benazir did.

What went wrong in India? It is necessary to know to strengthen your anger and your determination to take the fight to the core of the rotting political and bureaucratic system that operates our constitution and the governing tools.

The RAW is supposed to keep track of inimical activities beyond our borders. They are paid from your money to keep track of jihadi and terrorists organizations abroad that are regularly punishing you, simply because you are Indians. Colossal failure on the part of the RAW to generate real-time Human Intelligence has become a pain in the neck. Their reporting is sketchy, irregular and there is hardly any advance input to help the internal agencies to prevent jihadi attacks. The Intelligence Bureau has very limited access to the Islaimist organizations for combination of reasons that cannot be overcome without drastic changes in our governing attitude. The boorish policy of vote-bank secularism hinders the intelligence and security agencies. Intelligence is supposed to access a place where death even cannot enter. They have failed in their endeavours. They are also answerable to the country.

Fortunately this time around the RAW had an electronic input to indicate that a group of jihadis are likely to mount seaborne attack on Mumbai and one of the targets was Taj Hotel. Regarding Taj the IB also had sent warning to the state government and other agencies. What did the RAW do after the electronic input was received? Had they activated their assets in Karachi? Do they have any real-time asset in that area? If so, why did they fail to follow up the information?

The IB had also not followed up the information in its entire ramification covering coastal areas, mafia linkages and indigenous jihadis. Why? How long would they take shelter behind the veil of secrecy? IB is supposed to work out most ground details in cooperation with the state intelligence and police. Mere intelligence sharing does not qualify IB to retire for the day. Well known for its operational edges the IB should be able to follow up smallest lead on the ground. The ideal reporting format includes: i) intelligence statement (real input); ii) intelligence assessment (what is the real threat according to agency’s assessment); iii) intelligence implication (what can be real ground ramifications) and the likely follow up action by the reporting agency.

I am sorry to say that the two major central intelligence agencies of India do not follow this format followed by countries like the USA. It was imperative on the part of the RAW to follow up the initial input and feed further information. In case IB was aware of this RAW input it should have activated ground units to follow up. Why the Maharashtra unit of the IB failed to follow up? Mumbai has a strong unit. Why did it goof up? Why should these officers not be punished?

The mother agencies cannot wash away conscience and justify existence by merely claiming that they had catered some information. However, I do not endorse the half-baked views expressed by the Navy Chief. The Navy and the Coast Guard have a lot of questions to answer. Fortunately for them in India even after a Kargil the chiefs of intelligence agencies are rewarded with gubernatorial posts. Long live the indestructible Baboos!

However, as far as the IB is concerned there are severe limitations. IB requires minimum 100% increase in manpower and other resources. Our political class finds black money to loot but do not find legal money to spend for the security of the country, in spite of repeated threat from the neighbouring countries.

How long the people would tolerate? Why should not the people decide to dismantle this rotten system? Over last twenty years minimum 20 announcements were made to increase the capability of the IB. Precious little has been done and there is no constitutional author to take stock of the appalling condition of the IB as there is no Act of the Parliament to regulate the body and there is no accountability system. IB is a house maid of the PM and the Home Minister. Our politicians of all sheds have refused to add spine, morale and efficiency of the IB.

It is better less said about the RAW; an organization allegedly for Relatives and Associates’ Welfare. Since our people are not empowered to look into the functioning of these two agencies thorough their Parliamentary Overseeing Committee, the agencies tend to save their skins by taking shelter behind the indulgent politicians. It is high time the country wakes up and asks these questions. Please wake up, get angry and ask and force your political parties through your electoral power to attend to these important aspects of national security.

The state government (police and intelligence) did precious little to work out the ground details of the input. They were busy with tomfooling with the publicity glare of detecting Hindu Terrorism. The SIT, a virtual leaking can, was leaking information by the minutes. Before the State Assembly elections it was imperative for them to prove that Hindu Terrorism was as devastating for the country as the Muslim terrorism was.

In simple words the DG police Maharashtra and Commissioner of Police should have been sent home along with the Home and Chief Minister. These servants of the people are still merrily basking in the glory of post-attack glare, when they should have been in the dust bin. This happens because in India accountability is with the political master and not to the constitution and laws of the land. Some political bosses are protecting these two incompetent officers.

Indian states do not have organized professional police intelligence. The state intelligence branch, special branch and CID and SIT etc are not professional forces to cope with jihadi and terrorist challenges. The state police intelligence should have a comprehensible and adequately big force dedicated to intelligence tasks; they should be professionally trained and allowed to have longer tenure. At present the intelligence staffs are reshuffled between traffic, law & order, police station and other special arrangement duties. Intelligence generation requires longer nestling by officers handing a particular branch of activity. So far no state government has done this in a systematic manner.

As I said about the IB and the RAW, the state police forces and their intelligence units should also be made independent of political control and brought under statutory laws, making them accountable to an independent constitutional body. These recommendations have been made by many Police Commission Reports and the latest report submitted by Soli Sorabji Committee. The major states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan have not yet implemented the directives of the Supreme Court to bring about police reforms. Most political parties and leaders want to use the police as kitchen maids.

What can you expect from the kitchen maids of the politicians? Some curry is cooked well and most curries are spoiled. You have a choice; eat spoiled curries or force the kitchen maid to be professional.

Besides failing to secure the city Maharashtra police and its intelligence apparatus failed to arrange for proper protection of the vast cost lines. Marine policing and marine patrol exist in name. There is no protective police shield in the shallow waters and the innumerable minor ports, landing sited and creeks. In this vast unguarded border India stands totally exposed. The Coast Guard has limited capability. It cannot ply boats in very shallow waters and cannot afford to keep watch on more than 150,000- fishing and other vessels crisscrossing the Arabian Sea daily; among them many foreign owned fishing trawlers.

Our police forces do not have any record of the vessels operating in their areas of responsibility. They have very few fast moving patrolling vessels and these are not equipped with GPS and other sophisticated navigation systems. The coastal police do not have any low-coverage radar facility electronically connected to networks in neighbouring states. They do not have night vision binoculars and infrared firing target locator. With such colossal drawbacks it is very difficult to police, generate intelligence and intercept the intruders.

India stands naked in the vast western coastal-front.

There have been some debates if the government of India should militarily respond; carry out preemptory attacks against targets like Lashkar headquarter at Muridke and other terror training camps. I would not suggest military action, not as yet. I would not suggest drone attack on selected targets, not as yet. India is capable of staging a Munich or Entebbe as was done by Israel. However, India’s geopolitical situation is different. Such decision should not be taken without exhausting diplomatic miles, international pressure relay-races and geostrategic relocation of force alignments. War is fought to win; war is not for a stalemate and for merely inflicting some damages on the enemy. That conclusive state for winning a war has not yet come.

Moreover, by display of jingoistic belligerence India may not like to invite premature death for the fledgling democracy that has been allowed by the army to come to power. It is unlikely that this ramshackle democracy would strike permanent root. Democracy gives shivers to the Pakistani Establishment; yet we must respect the civil society of Pakistan, which by no means is involved with jihadi activities. Pakistan in army hand, that too in the hand of a former ISI chief, General Kiyani may not bring undiluted blessings. In fact, the Lashkar group trained for Mumbai operation started training over a year ago when Kiyani as ISI chief and Musharraf lorded over Pakistan. Who does not know that officers of Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous of the ISI were responsible for training this group? General Kiyani cannot be bathed in milk when the JIM was responsible for conceiving the operation in collaboration with the Lashkar-the official non-state player of the State of Pakistan.

Moreover, India must consider that nearly half of Pakistan is ruled by the Taliban, Al Qaeda and allied jihadi forces. Government writ runs only in limited areas. By Indian military intervention Pakistan can be weakened and pushed to the lap of the jihadis, but a Talibani Pakistan might set foot in India and poison our security ambience more than we are made to inhale now.

With these arrays of arguments and realities before us shall we just finish off by burning a few candles and gradually returning to the shell-Mumbai resilience is unparallel? Please do not stop with the candles, do not wipe the tears, do not wash the blood and do not draw a blanket on your memory. GET ANGRY AND KEEP THE FIRE BURNING. YOUR ANGER SHOULD NOT MELT DOWN LIKE THE CANDLE YOU HOLD. THE TRICOLOUR FLAUNTED BY YOUR CHILD SHOULD NOT BE TRAMPLED BY THE JIHADIS.

I am not advocating violence, I am not urging you take up arms. We have power to change the things-the political parties, their leadership, the police, intelligence and other segments of the bureaucracy without application of violence. We can change through ballot boxes; either by casting or refusing to cast our votes. Please remember we in India did not have a conclusive Revolution. A revolution of the peoples of India, as recorded in some history books by Congress party or communist historian and some Gandhi admirers would tell you the story of the Great Indian Revolution under India National Congress and Mahatma Gandhi that earned us freedom. Gandhi could not finish his revolution. It was hijacked either by violent mobs in 1942 or by his greedy junior colleagues. Practically after 1937 they had abandoned Gandhji. Please read again your history, written by independent minds and not by individual and family worshippers. You would understand why Gandhi failed.

Another person who dreamt revolution and accomplished to a great extent was Subhas Bose, the prodigal and abandoned child of India’s independence movement. Not only the British, the Indian communists and the Nehruite Congress were ready to fight him and his forces if he entered India with the Japanese. These two revolutions had shaken the British. But we received independence because an exhausted Britain wanted to escape from India as it had broken its spine in wars against Germany and Japan. Even in victory the British Lion lost its claws and teeth.

Let us have a revolution. There are several theories and debates how the French Revolution had come to change the course of human history. Thinkers like Edmund Burke, Thomas Carlyle, Louis Blanc, Albert Sorel etc differ vastly. But the Mother of all Revolutions came riding the shoulder of the people. The other great revolution of our times happened in America.

I request you to consider that we can bring this revolution through the use of our universal franchise-our election system, our constitution, our higher judiciary and the desire of our people to fight against internal systemic enemies in the form of stale political parties, chauvinistic regional leaders, caste barons and wholesale bribing of the electorate by astoundingly rich moneybags. Please have a look at the electoral rot we are in. This election system has degenerated to mafia war and money game. (Those who are interested to know the real character of our election may like to read We The People—A Story of Gangland Democracy authored by me. Hindi version coming soon. This is not an advertisement, this is a strong recommendation).

What can you achieve through your electoral power? Suppose we angry people minus the party loyalists boycott the next General Elections? What would happen? Can any party elected on only 10% of votes cast legally rule India, command the loyalty of the people and the Armed Forces? They cannot.

Would you invite the Army to rule? No, never. Army would be worse than present mafia ridden political structures.

Please adopt two weapons: the old one prescribed by Mahatma Gandhi to launch peaceful boycott of all elections, till the entire election laws are changed and constitutional and legal frameworks are devised to ensure that only “clean, involved and patriotic political leaders are allowed to contest elections.” Elimination of the mafia, criminals and known thieves among the politicians would not tantamount to violation of democracy. They should be treated as social and political outcasts. Participate in elections only when such conditions are restored.

In case of jihadi or terrorist attacks please do not let the politicians and the bureaucrats go scot-free. Launch peaceful Satyagraha till responsible officials, politicians and agencies are punished either through departmental or legal action.

Please launch mass hunger strike to protest against carnages like Mumbai attacks and do not compromise till the political leaders in the Centre and the States take responsibility, quit office and new ones, who can assure better security are ushered in. Democracy does not allow blatant violation of accountability. Accountability is the soul of democracy.

You have another potent weapon: mass refusal to pay certain taxes after formally notifying the President and the Chief Justice till the governments implement adequate measures to ensure security and safety of the people and devise ways and means to provide cutting edge capability to intelligence agencies to operate inside and outside the geographical border with sufficient State-backing.

Consider if you would force the political leadership to change governing ethos of the country and adopt prompt retaliatory policies like certain countries in the West have done to cope with the emerging terror attacks on their soil and against their citizen. If the rulers cannot protect they have no right to rule. They must go. And you can ensure that only through steeled determination, citizen’s cooperation, irrespective of your linguistic, religious, caste and other affiliations. Your unity can bring doom to the masters of the doomsday administration you are now being subjected to.

All these can be achieved peacefully, with very little or no violence on the part of the people. You can produce your own leaders. Do not wait for the moneybag fatties, caste lords and family worshippers; do not fall in the trap of religious propagandists and the Jurassic communists.

Please freeze your tears, please preserve those blood rivulets and steel your mind. Your determined non-cooperation and your sustained pressure alone can change the rotten imperial system of political and bureaucratic dispensation. Remember rupees 30 out of your hundred go to pay these politicians and bureaucrats. Why maintain these white elephants if they cannot protect you?

Your Anger is important, not for a violent revolution. But for uniting the people and fighting political and bureaucratic machines that has gone berserk. Instead of protecting you they are allowing the foreign aggressors to devour you.

You have two options: Violent resistance against a failing system like the Maoists are doing or the peaceful one that was abandoned by the Indians since Gandhi’s experiment with Quit India failed way back in 1942. Even in failure that was the globally hailed mechanism to fight. Remember one Mandela can change a people. One Black is US president today because another Black had taken the path of Gandhi. I suggest unite and opt for Gandhi’s mechanism. Make it successful this time.

Come join your hands and minds and cry: WE WANT CHANGE AND WANT IT NOW.

Bhayiyon aur bahinon, how about tracking down and compiling a list of the people killed in all these terrorist attacks? India is failing dismally to stand up for the victims. The Mumbai attack just happened to be conducted on live global TV, and claimed a lot of lives that were somehow deemed more valued than other lives. That's disgusting. See if you can find lists for every attack.

I am waiting to see the CNN reports of the massive relief/reconstruction efforts inside Pakistan that will surely come as a result of of their terrorist enterprise.

During the 1965 war the center page of the newspaper had a Roll of Honour of all the Indian martyrs - at least the military personnel. Daily updates. Has India become LESS human with the advance of "IT"?

question to you shivWhy not include attacks in the North-East? There is some serious disconnect in not including these attacks as terrorist attacks on India. After all they are also being done with the help of the same agencies.There were bomb blasts in Guwahati on 8th oct 2008, attacking puja pandals during durga puja.edit:MK Dhar seems to have the same opinion.

We have been told time and again that terrorism began after 1992, lets see what happened 2 years before that in 1990. We have always been told to be sensitive towards Kashmiris, but can we for once see the sensitivity of Kashmiri Muslims towards Indians or Kashmiri Pandits (KPs)?

I hope everyone will see this short 20 min documentary on how the KPs became refugees in their own country. On the morning of Jan 19, 1990, KPs were asked to leave Kashmir within 2 days. Subsequently, KP intelligentsia was brutally killed, youth were tortured and killed, woman were hanged naked from the trees, their houses were burned and finally they left Kashmir, their ancestral homeland. And so, in a "secular" India, in the only Muslim majority state, Hindus were driven out of their homes. If anyone from the human right brigade talks human right violations Kashmir, please throw these videos in his/her face.

Here is a history sheet of Hamid Gul and his shenanigans in Punjab and Kashmir.Op-Ed. Telegraph, Kolkota, 18 Dec 2008

DANGEROUS PLAYERS IN AN ELABORATE CHARADE Given the long history of US support enjoyed by the Inter-Services Intelligence, India faces a tough challenge ahead, writes Abhijit Bhattacharyya

Help wanted

Hamid Gul, the sixth boss of the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan, assumed charge at the height of the Soviet-Afghan war in April 1987 and was witness to six memorable events connected with his country: first, the death of his military boss and the nation’s president, General Zia-ul-Haq, in an air crash on Wednesday, August 17, 1988, in Bahawalpur. Second was the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Kabul, beginning February 15, 1989. Third was the beginning of civil war in Afghanistan following the vacuum created by the Soviet defeat and US withdrawal. Fourth, the accession of Benazir Bhutto as the first woman prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Fifth was his brazen support to the Khalistan movement, and the last was the masterminding of the Kashmir turbulence, before abdicating the post of the director-general, ISI, in May 1989.

Born in Sargodha in 1935, commissioned in the Armoured Corps in 1954, and having served, first as the director-general of military intelligence, then of the ISI, and finally as the lieutenant-general of the Strike Corps II in Multan, Gul is remembered more for his 27-month stint at the ISI than for anything else. General Zia-ul-Haq picked up Gul for his hardcore Islamic views as the former was keen to radically Islamize the Pakistani army. Gul successfully nurtured right-wing politicians and created Islami Jamhoori Ittehad, a religion-based political party to counter Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party. Although he failed to stop Benazir from becoming the prime minister, he succeeded in incurring her wrath, which paved the way for his ouster from the ISI in May 1989.

When the Soviets began withdrawing from Kabul in February 1989, Gul’s tactics of direct action to capture Jalalabad to install a puppet Afghan government with the help of the Mujahideen, ended in total failure due to the inability of the Mujahideen to switch over from their traditional expertise of guerrilla warfare to conventional military operations. On the Khalistan front, Gul was equally adventurous and innovative as he felt that “backing the Sikh separatists was the only way of pre-empting any fresh Indian threat to Pakistan’s territorial integrity”. He finally believed that “keeping the Indian Punjab destabilized is equivalent to the Pakistani army having an extra division at no cost to the Pakistani taxpayers”.

Today, Indians should scan through leading newspapers from 1987 to 1989 to find out how many innocent lives were lost, how and where. Indians should reflect on the contemporary reports from 1989, when Benazir was new to the machinations of the Pakistani army and the ISI, which were headed respectively by the Azamgarh-born refugee (mojahir), Mirza Aslam Beg, and the Sargodha-born Punjabi, Hamid Gul — the two anti-democracy stalwarts, who accepted the first female prime minister in Pakistan more out of compulsion than choice.

Politically too, the ISI, during Gul’s tenure, successfully created the coalition of the anti-Benazir religio-political force, called IJI. Gul, therefore, stood out not only as a military general and a spy-master but also showed features of a religious preacher and political leader.

Gul’s succession to the post of the ISI chief in April 1987, however, was partly owing to his being a favourite of the station chief of the Central Intelligence Agency, Milton Bearden, and the then US Ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel, both of whom considered Gul as an ally waging the jihad of the Mujahideen against Kremlin in Kabul, and a potential national leader of Pakistan. The US-Gul honeymoon, however, was short-lived, owing to Washington’s loss of interest, as the mission of military mayhem of Marxist Moscow was complete. This re-energized the free-for-all fight among Muslim militants, militia, middlemen and the merchants of death in the vast arid land of Afghanistan. Subsequently, the fury of the United States of America multiplied, as evidence appeared in the late Nineties that Gul, despite being a retired man, somehow was able to give the Taliban an advance warning of the US attempts to assassinate Osama bin Laden with missile strikes. The worst allegation against Gul followed in 2004 in the US media that the former ISI boss was a key participant in the 9/11 plot and “Osama bin Laden’s master planner”.

President George W. Bush had recently asked, “Who controls the ISI?” The world today is asking this question too, but very few, so far, has paid any heed to bleeding India’s recurring plea to take a united stand against the machinations of the military, mullah, and militants of Pakistan, a combination that makes the ISI not only the State within a State but also something more than that. The ISI is not merely a “non-state actor” as referred to by the leader of the Opposition in the Indian Parliament on December 11, 2008. The ISI is a parallel State that gets money from Islamabad’s exchequer, but operates on auto-pilot with several State actors as well as extra-territorial factors that determine its course, direction, aim, speed and the angle of attack on its targets by pouring in money

Thus, Pakistan government apart, the nearest and dearest traditional supporters of the ISI have been the US, the CIA and some countries in the Middle-East. History shows that the likes of Gul first played the role of a pawn and subsequently that of a power-broker from the wrong side of the fence. Today, the reality is that the US is unlikely go against the ISI and Pakistan beyond a point. Or else history will expose the US’s actions, which, of course, were born out of the strategic compulsions of the superpower. Thus, despite the love-hate relationship between the CIA and the ISI, Associated Press reported on July 22, 2004, that the “9/11 Commission Report fails to mention possible ISI connection to 9/11”. This, despite reports that the commission was given a document by a high-level, anonymous source claiming that the “ISI was fully involved in devising and helping the entire 9/11 plot.” The document blames Gul for being the “central participant in the plot.” It noted that Gul is a self-avowed “admirer” of bin Laden and that the CIA considers Gul to be “the most dangerous man in Pakistan”. A senior Pakistani political leader said, “I have reason to believe Hamid Gul was Osama bin Laden’s master planner.” The 9/11 document also suggested that “Pakistan’s appearance of fighting al Qaeda is merely an elaborate charade and top military and intelligence officials in Pakistan still closely sympathize with bin Laden’s ideology.” Despite this exposure, the 9/11 commission’s final report rarely mentioned the ISI.

The only significant mention is a brief comment that the ISI was the Taliban’s “primary patron”. The director-general, ISI, lieutenant-general Mahmood Ahmed (1999-2001) is mentioned twice, both in the context of post-9/11 diplomacy. It is noted that the details of 9/11 plot were widely known by the Taliban leadership, but the report fails to consider if the Taliban shared this knowledge with their “primary patron.” Far from criticizing Pakistan, the commission praises the country for its support in the war on terror and suggests that the “US should greatly increase its foreign aid there”. Given this attitude, India should recall the popular adage, “God helps those who help themselves.” The geopolitics of realpolitik can only be ignored at India’s own peril.

K Mehta wrote:question to you shivWhy not include attacks in the North-East? There is some serious disconnect in not including these attacks as terrorist attacks on India. After all they are also being done with the help of the same agencies.There were bomb blasts in Guwahati on 8th oct 2008, attacking puja pandals during durga puja.edit:MK Dhar seems to have the same opinion.

Please do it for me. Please make a fresh list. That is what this thread is for.

I had a reason for not including them in my list that I merely cross posted here. That reason was that they are used by Pakistan as evidence of "internal dissent" in India and I did not want to give a chance for that argument to come up when I made this list.

This thread is to evolve a final, easily usable list that can be pasted on our foreheads like 'Babri Masjid and Gujrat"

There was a number in one newspaper, IIRC it said, Congress Rule for last five years. Number of Indians died at terrorist attack from pakistan, 6000 it means while Paki Born Indian PM was wailing for peace, Antulay was trying his best for his religion, Shivraj Patil was busy looking crisp, 1500 Innocent Indian Citizens were dying. This quiet an achievement for Congress Government. No other nation has this kind of record.

This is a great idea. Shiv, you had a graphic of the attacks. I process information graphically much faster than other forms (written, verbal). I was wondering if its possible to present this information graphically perhaps in a time lapse kind of format. Its not something I know how to do besides loading it into something like microsoft mapping software..... If somebody else does .....

In any instance I like the thread and should be useful in the court of public opinion.

This is the FULL Names list of those killed in Mumbai. I was able to complete it thanks to a Maharashtra Govt news release.

While I was able to give locations and references to most - thirty names are still marked as "unknown". (Most of them are probably from CST) Please see if you can find the details of these thirty victims. If you update the list, please format the line you updated in BOLD

It is not only direct terror attacks that we should credit to Pakistan but also such acts as funding, training, indoctrination, planning, shelter etc. For that reason, Pakistan should be credited with many terrorist acts as well, IMHO. For example, the following:

Some of the Khalistani terrorists, notably members of the Babbar Khalsa group including Babbar Khalsa International chief Wadhawan Singh Babbar and the hijackers of several Indian Airlines planes between circa 1981 and 1984, and the one who planted the bomb in Air-India’s flight AI182 Kanishka plane that killed 331 people in 1985 and Khalistani Zindabad Force (KZF) including its chief Ranjit Singh Neeta, trained and armed by the ISI, took refuge in Lahore, Pakistan and continue to operate from there. It also includes Paramjit Singh Panjawar, the chief of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), who lives in Pakistan, runs terrorist training camps and actively plans and excutes terror strikes in India. Similarly, leaders of the Babbar Khalsa International and International Sikh Youth Federation who were involved in the assassination of the Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh, took refuge in Pakistan.

Other cases of direct Pakistani involvement

In 1997, there were a series of 37 blasts across several locations in North India that killed 17 people and injured 281. Two Pakistani nationals were eventually convicted. Link

Dec. 24, 1999 Hijacking of Indian Airlines' flight IC-814 to Kandahar and killing of one Indian.

I also believe that a major news organization will publish shortly a list of global footprint of Pakistani terrorism. The Indian and global terror involvement of Pakistan, taken together, should be really mind boggling.

Statesman News Service JALPAIGURI, March 18: Two persons were killed and 16 injured in a bomb blast at the Supermarket complex of Alipurduar Choupathi today. The bomb exploded in a cycle stand at the Choupathi area around 11 a.m. killing one Sanatan Das on the spot. One Kamal Adhikari succumbed to his injuries in Alipurduar Hospital later. The hospital authorities referred six of the bomb victims to a Cooch Behar hospital.The IGP North Bengal, Mr KL Tamta, said that a full alert had been sounded in the border areas. “Two persons died and four others were seriously injured in the blast. The bomb squad has reached the spot. An investigation team consisting of five members has been constituted to probe the incident. An incident such as this before the elections concerns us,” the IGP, said.The explosion damaged all shops within a 100-metre radius of the blast site. “Business was peaking when the blast occurred. I heard a loud bang and was blinded by the flash of light. When I regained composure, I saw people running about with blood stained faces and clothes. I fell unconscious thereafter,” said a local trader Mr Ranjit Kumar Sha, describing the moment after the explosion.The explosion caused widespread panic and all shops and establishments closed for the day in the Choupathi area. The police reached the spot immediately after the incident and brought the situation under control. The minister of state for PWD as well as the Left Front Lok Sabha candidate for the Alipurduar constituency, Mr Manohar Tirkey, said the government would compensate the blast victims. “The crime proves anti-India elements are active in the region,” Mr Tirkey stated. The home secretary, Mr Ardhendu Sen, said: “Primarily it seems that gelatin sticks were used to trigger the explosion. Investigations have begun but we are yet to find any terror link in the blast.”

The bomb, suspected to have been planted in a car or a motorcycle in a parking lot adjacent to the Northeast Frontier railway headquarters near Maligaon Chariali, went off around 2:00 pm killing five on the spot. Early reports confirmed that at least seven people were killed and 61 others injured in two bomb blasts triggered by suspected ULFA militants in Maligaon area and Dhekiajuli on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Assam. Assam DGP J M Srivastav said seven people were killed and 56 injured when a powerful bomb blast went off in Maligaon at around 2:00 p.m., sparking a fire that set ablaze two cars and 20 motorcycles and spread to a three-storey building housing the area police station. "This is the handiwork of ULFA boys ahead of the outfit's 'Raising Day'," he said, adding the militants used hi-tech explosives. While six were killed on the blast site, one succumbed to injuries after jumping from an adjacent building which had caught fire.

Guwahati, April 6 (IANS) Assam was rocked by a series of bomb explosions and grenade attacks Monday killing eight people and wounding 60, a day ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the state.A police spokesman said there were three explosions and two grenade attacks in different parts of the state, including one at a police station.

A powerful explosion rocked Guwahati’s busy Maligaon area, while another explosion shook Dhekiajuli town in northern Sonitpur district, about 150 km from here. The third explosion took place in eastern Karbi Anglong district injuring two people.

SSridhar wrote:I also believe that a major news organization will publish shortly a list of global footprint of Pakistani terrorism. The Indian and global terror involvement of Pakistan, taken together, should be really mind boggling.

Just a thought. Since we are compiling a master list of terror attacks in India perpetrated by either direct or indirect support of the puukis (I love this word), perhaps we should also include those acts of terror conducted by the khalistanis that killed thousands of Sikhs, Hindus and other Indians. These khalistanis were (and still are) getting porki support (training, material, money, diplomatic, and moral).